I felt like changing it up this year... I've been shooting Gold Tip Pro Hunters for a while now at 8.9 gpi with a 100 grain Montec. I still believe this to be a very good set up (especially for deer) with a top of the line arrow and broadhead combination. In my setup with 30.5 inch arrows, 7 inch wraps, and blazer vanes, my total arrow weight was 425 grains shooting 308 fps through my Bowtech Destroyer 340. This year I wanted a little more ooomph behind my arrows and a smaller arrow diameter. I ordered the new Gold Tip Kinetic Pros from Lucky Shot Archery in Chehalis. However, I did not bother checking the price prior to ordering.... I recommend that you do so if you are going to try this arrow as I was quite shocked when I showed up to pick them up. Lucky Shot has some absolutely great prices on their stuff but when MSRP is like $180 a dozen, well it's not cheap no matter where you buy. These arrows have a pretty exacting weight tolerance of +/- .001 and a weight tolerance of of +/- .05 with a slightly smaller diameter than the Easton FMJ's which were my original choice (I ordered these over the FMJ's because the GT Kinetic Pro's beat the FMJ's in these three categories and b/c I'm a big fan of Gold Tip). While the Easton arrows with the small diameters utilize HIT inserts, the Gold Tip arrows come with a half in/ half out insert. You can use either insert in either arrow. The supposed upside of the half out insert is that when you hit some hard, like a tree perhaps, with your arrow the insert may give instead of shattering your arrow tip, which is a positive when you shoot arrows that cost $15 each.
When the arrows arrived at the shop I had them cut to length (30.5") and took them home where I wrapped them in 7" custom wraps from Onestringer with Blazer vanes (helical) and installed the inserts. My bow was previously perfectly tuned to the GT Pro Hunter 7595's and was shooting BH and FP into the exact same spot with great groups with either one. I bought the Kinetics with a .300 spine as I wanted to shoot 125 grain tips. They shot OK at first but definitely not great. I went and did a bit of retuning which included a layer of serving inside of my D-loop as the nocks on the Kinetics are much smaller than the standard GT or Easton nocks. I paper tuned which required moving the rest up a bit to compensate for the much smaller arrow diameter and increased my bow poundage by about 3 pounds to 67. After about a half hour of microfiddling I was getting perfect bullet holes. With the new GT Kinetic Pro's and 125 gn tips my completed arrow was 499 gns- 500 gns shooting at 280fps. I am now much more confident in the ability of my arrow to penetrate deeply on an elk that is quartering a bit more than I would like.
After the bow was tuned I was very impressed with the groups these arrows provided, very similar to my GT Pro Hunters which I was confident in shooting shafts touching at 20 yards, and 2-3 inch groups at 40 yards (providing I was having a decent shooting day). One thing I did notice is that I always seem to have a good breeze in the back yard in the evenings and true to popular belief, the smaller diameter and heavier arrows were less effected (granted were talking a matter of 2-3 inches at 40 yards).
The one area where there was a definitive difference was in the penetration. I use a Rinehart Rhineblock target which I consider to be very good. My previous arrows were penetrating about half in- half out or a bit less. The 500gn arrows with the smaller diameter were sinking significantly deeper into the block, in some cases up to the fletching depending on which side I was shooting.
Once everything was tuned, sighted in, and shot for groups I went down to Lucky Shot to shoot Ted's outdoor 3d course (yesterday). I was extremely impressed with how the arrows were performing on the targets that range from about 20-65 yards. I also got an example of what the claimed benefit of a half in/ half out insert is. About halfway through the course my arrow blew the vitals of a 25 yard target and richoted of the ground and into a tree. The arrow itself was completed fine, the insert was also intact but upon closer examination I noticed the insert had compressed a wee bit... the tip was wobbling about 1/16 inch when I spun it. To be fair, I don't know if it was from impact or me yanking on it to pull it out of the tree. Regardless, I'll heat it up and replace the inserts, no harm done. I will say this, I was on a speed craze for a while and thought for sure that if I dropped below 300fps my arrows would be dropping like the drawers of a woman of ill repute when she sees a handful of $100 dollar bills. However, I was remarkably surprised to see that it really wasn't that much of a difference, especially at longer ranges. The difference was most recognizable at 30-40 yards and it was minute at best.
Overall, I'm extremely pleased with these arrows. Yes, they are ridiculously expensive and looking back I wonder if the the Axis Nanos, FMJs, or other similar diameter arrows would have done just as well. I guess it's about each person individually and for me I believe that the higher end Gold Tip arrows are tough as hell and it's one less thing I'll have to wonder about if and when I draw down on that bull this year.
On another quick note, previously I shot 100 gn G5 Montecs which I think are one of the sturdiest BH's out there. I enjoyed the aspect of sharpening them myself and tried many different methods. The best I found was utilizing automotive sandpaper in 1000-3000 grit on a sheet of plate glass. I was able to get them much sharper than with the G5 stone. While I could get them to shave arm hair, I'm very OCD when it comes to blade sharpness, whether BH's, knives, axes, or machetes, and I never could get them as sharp as I wanted. It has to do with the blade angle when sharpening a true fixed 3 blade BH on a flat surface. This year I decided to try out the G5 Strikers. They have a slightly bigger cut (1 1/8 vs 1 1/16) and I can say this, they truly are scary sharp, ridiculously scary sharp. I've handled many different BH's with replaceable blades and to me these were definitely the sharpest. The frosting on the cake was this evening I took them out and shot groups at 20, 30, and 40... No sight adjustment necessary, they hit in exactly the same spot as my field points. I think my Montects may have been a bit tougher due to the fixed and immovable design, though not by much. However, these blades are far sharper than I could have gotten, even with the hours I used to spend sharpening my old Montecs.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with my setup this year for Elk. One thing for me is I like to elimintate any doubting questions lingering in my brain when I draw on an animal. I'm very confident that my arrow will hit where I want it to, penetrate deep enough, and is sharp and stubborn enough to produce the best blood trail possible. Would ICS Hunter's with 100 grain Muzzy's do just as well? I'm sure they would and they have for me and many others in the past. There's just something about that little bit of piece of mind knowing I'm shooting something that shoots accurately out of my setup, hits hard, and is supposedly top of the line that seems to make me shoot a bit better and allows me to concentrate fully on the shot and not on what might go wrong. If you're like me and looking at changing things up a bit, you might look at the GT Kinetic Pros and the G5 Strikers. I'm quite pleased myself- though the price was quite steep. Of course, I'm going to have to continue researching for 30 minutes every evening for the next 6 weeks. I'll let you know if I change my mind.
Sliverslinger
Bowtech Destroyer 340
30.5" 67 lbs
500 gns @280 FPS
QAD Ultra Rest Pro HD
Spot Hogg Hunter 7 pin
Octane stabilizer and quiver
Homemade Bow Sling
